Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

I would start with the web site for your local county superior court.

There are various ways, depending to a large extent on what you know about the possible lawsuit, such as where it might have been filed. For example, if the suit might have been filed in Federal court, anywhere in the country, there is a nationwide on-line access system called "PACER" (for "Public Access to Court Electronic Records") where a person can put in various search terms to pull up records of filed lawsuits in Federal courts anywhere in the country. The more you can narrow your search inquiry (as to party name, court of filing, date range, etc.), the more manageable will be your search results.

In state courts, at least in California, there is no good state-wide public access procedure, and each county's Superior Court keeps it electronic records in a different way, it seems, from every other. Try www.courts.ca.gov, find the directory of Superior Courts by county, and visit the Web sites of county courts that might be the venue of the suit. The on-line search process will vary by county, from very easy and fast to difficult and confusing, or nonexistent. You can also call the courts' civil department clerks. Some county court clerks answer readily and can and will look up the information quickly and politely. Other counties don't answer the phone at all, or you get a telephone tree where you press numbers or listen to unhelpful messages or are put on hold forever.

Finally, most lawyers subscribe to data services that maintain searchable databases of adverse information on individuals, such as lawsuits, foreclosures, arrests, liens, etc., so you could hire a lawyer to check, but these data bases are often incomplete or not up-to-date. Or, you could contact the likely plaintiff and ask.